The Role Transition of Dietary Species Richness in Modulating the Gut Microbial Assembly and Postweaning Performance of a Generalist Herbivore.

ABSTRACT: When facing a food shortage, generalist herbivores can respond by expanding their dietary species richness (DSR) to maximize energy collection, regardless of whether forages are preferred or not. Higher DSR usually indicates higher nutrient adequacy and better health. However, the high-DSR diet containing a large proportion of preferred species or a large proportion of less-preferred species means different things to an animal. It is still unknown how different shift patterns in DSR would affect distinctly the performance of animals via altering gut microbiota. We examined the gut microbial composition, diversity, community assembly processes, and performance of a generalist herbivore, Lasiopodomys brandtii, in a feeding experiment with increased levels of simulated DSR shifting fro

SUBMITTER: Li G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8562480 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature